They sat up most of the night talking, sitting in the corner under the window. Carlos realized only later that he'd somehow put them as far from the bed as possible. Did he always do that or was it just for this conversation? He told her absolutely everything. He hadn't meant to. He had planned to give her the basics of his dark past, get dumped, and go back to his room to nurse his broken heart. She hadn't dumped him, of course. Jane was too good a person for that. He shouldn't have underestimated her. And then she wanted to know everything.

He stole glances at her where she sat beside him, back pressed to the same wall. She held onto his hand in her lap with both of hers, but they didn't stare at each other. He only looked sometimes to gauge how she was doing. There were a lot of tears and he was blown away to know that they were for him. He told her things he didn't want her to hear, things he didn't think she'd even known people could do to each other, things he'd never even told Jay.

She looked horrified, gulping back disbelief and nodding her head stiffly. He hated himself for telling her, because he could see how it was already changing her—changing the way she saw the world—but somehow when it was done and she looked up at him, that was still the same. How could she look so hurt, so stunned and scared, and still look at him the same way? She was still holding on to his hand, sniffling and trying to pull herself together when he was done and they'd sat a long time in the quiet.

Finally, he realized he was going to have to say something first. "So, I'll understand if you want to go back to being friends. It would be okay and I would still love you and—"

She turned, twisting around to sit facing him. "I don't want to just be friends. Do you?"

"No."

She squeezed his hand, still holding on to it. She had clung to it like a lifeline this whole time and he was grateful for it. "If you don't ever want to have sex," her voice eeped a little over that word, blushing when she said it. "It'd be okay. We'd still be us and—"

"It's not hat I don't ever want to," he said. It was important to be honest in this conversation, right? He'd promised to tell her the truth and she'd promised to be honest with him in return. They needed to talk about this stuff—at least that much of all that shit Jay had said was true.

"So, we haven't had sex because…" Her voice was small, big eyes drifting down to his hand in hers. He could practically see her thinking behind them, those shadows slipping in. Of course, he'd known about Jane's insecurities. She'd tried to steal her mom's wand just to make herself prettier once. But he and any villain kid could understand that sort of desperation and how those little pains and fears can eat away at you.

"It's not that I don't want to," he said quickly, staring back at her and trying to make her believe it. He wanted her. Of course, he did. "It's just that I'm afraid that it would be like that… Like it was…"

Her eyes grew and for the first time she let go of his hand, both of hers flying up to her mouth. "Like I would be hurting you?" she whispered out in terror, sitting up on her knees now.

He almost laughed, tears in his eyes for how cute that was. She was worried he was afraid of her? "No. Like I would be hurting you. Like you might feel like I felt." He sighed and shook his head, wanting to reach for her but not doing it—he couldn't grab at her, couldn't initiate contact when they were talking about this. He just couldn't, no matter how much he wanted to. "But I swear I would never hurt you. I would never let anything like that happen to you."

She sighed softly and pressed her palm against the side of his face. He exhaled relief and leaned his face into her touch. She had no idea how much peace she gave him. How safe she made him feel. "I'm not afraid of that," she whispered, leaning over to touch her forehead to his. "I know you wouldn't hurt me." She kissed his cheek and then the corner of his mouth, lingering before looking up at him. "Thank you for telling me."

Carlos smiled, tired down to his bones after all that truth. "You should go to bed. I'll stay here and sleep just in case Harry comes back."

Jane wrinkled her nose in a hybrid, pout/frown. "Yeah. What's all that about?" She yawned halfway through asking.

He laughed softly and stood up, pulling her to her feet and nudging her toward her bed. "I don't know but I'm too tired to figure it out now. I'll take care of it tomorrow."

She nodded sleepily, pulling back the covers on her bed and climbing in. She scooted over before Carlos could try to tuck her in or something else incredibly sweet. "Just sleeping," she whispered, knotting the sleeves of her sweater in her palms.

Carlos's whole body ached to curl up on that squishy mattress with her, knowing she'd snuggle up against him all warm and comforting. And she knew everything about his past now, every horrible thing that had ever happened to him, and she still wanted him there.

He shrugged off his jacket and kicked off his shoes, climbing into bed just as she tossed the covers over him and hugged him. She even hugged when she slept. She was perfect.

Uma tossed in her sleep. The wolf. She'd seen it in the streets of the Isle once. They all had. It was a myth even there—The Big Bag Wolf—but they had seen it and it had chased her. She'd run all the way to the docks and flung herself into the sea, the waves tossing her back against the rocky shoreline, but that beating was better than teeth.

But when she saw it tonight, in her dream, she wasn't in the narrow dark alleys of the Isle. She was outside in the quad where all those bright, sweet students ate lunch and studied and flirted. She was under the bright sun, staring at the treeline across the tidy field. And there it was, like a giant living shadow, staring back at her and she knew—knew—that it remembered her. It remembered chasing her and not getting a taste. It knew who she was, who they all were, and it was grinning.

She woke with a start, the howl still echoing in her ears as she gulped for air.

"Uma!" It wasn't the first time he'd said her name, she realized. His hands were on her, running up and down her back through the thin damp fabric of her nightshirt and cupping her face.

She panicked, for one horrible second forgetting who he was and where they were. She jerked away, arms lashing out. She might have screamed if she had caught her breath yet.

Harry had been asleep beside her when he woke to her tossing. He'd tried to wake her but she wouldn't stir until she suddenly sat upright, eyes open. He'd been saying her name to try to call her back to him, trying to soothe. It wasn't uncommon to have nightmares, not for any of them, but this was something else and he realized too late. His heart felt tight in his chest when she fought against him, sounding afraid. It wasn't how he was used to her. It wasn't anything he was prepared for. Suddenly he felt like an intruder, having to remind himself that he wasn't—that she'd told him to stay tonight—that she'd always said he was welcome to stay.

"Uma, please!" he called, having to catch her wrists. He held them both in one hand, pressed to his chest and straddled her, using his weight to pin her down as gently as he could. He couldn't let her go like this, not when he wasn't sure what she was thinking or what she'd do.

He cringed when she struggled under him, tears in his eyes and gulping air at the way it made him feel. Like a traitor? Like a monster? Like her monster? "Please," he begged against her neck. She was flailing but he hadn't given her enough room to knock their heads together or hit anything with her legs. Luckily, in whatever state she was in, she'd forgotten all of her fighting experience. "Please. Please. Please." He'd never said the word so much in his life. "Wake up, love. Please, wake up. It's me. It's just me."

She bit into the base of his neck and screamed into his skin, and then she finally stopped kicking. He felt her fall back, panting for air, shaking and slowly relaxing under him. Slowly. He held on, his face still in the curve of her neck, his tears on her skin. He didn't say anything, didn't move either.

Finally, she drug in a less shaky breath and he heard her swallow hard. "Harry?" Her voice was hers, commanding but still uncertain.

He released her wrists and sat up. He was shaking almost as much as she was. "You were—"

"I know. I didn't realize you were you…" she said, staring up at him. Her eyes grew when she saw the blood trickling down his collar. She sat up on her elbow and reached for the bite mark. "Shit. Shit, I'm sorry… I'm—"

He kissed her to make her stop. He needed her not to apologize to him, not after she'd sounded so afraid of him. When he pulled back she looked calmer, more like herself, and he felt more himself too.

"I saw the wolf," Uma whispered in the dark. "I think it's outside the barrier."

Thank you so much for the reviews! They mean the world and are so inspiring! If you guys have any requests for where this goes or for other fics, I'd love to hear them. No promises, of course, but if I can make it happen I will!

And oh my gosh I forgot to delete an idea blurb I had at the bottom of this doc before I posted it last night and I'm so sorry and embarrassed. Fixed it. Sorry!